This invention relates to systems of the type that store responses from a plurality of users, and in particular to such systems which categorize the stored user responses.
A commonly encountered problem with many recording systems such as question and answer machines relates to the manner in which the stored responses are replayed. Typically, it is necessary to hear all of the stored responses in order to find a set of responses pertaining to a particular topic. Thus, a person listening to stored responses on a typical telephone answering machine must listen to each stored response in turn in order to reach any particular response, regardless of the purpose of the individual calls. In other words, many conventional answering machines do not categorize stored voice messages relating to one topic from stored voice messages relating to a second topic.
In an attempt to overcome this problem, some systems in the past have been equipped with word recognition circuits which respond to selected code words. Typically, the caller is requested to speak one of the selected code words in order to define the type of call. This approach requires the caller to cooperate with the recorded system, and it only groups those calls in which the caller properly speaks the required word.
Another approach of the prior art is to request the caller to depress a selected key on a telephone instrument. The response recording system then recognizes the associated tones and uses this information to classify the call. This approach also requires the caller to cooperate with instructions provided to the caller by the recording system. Additionally, this approach requires the caller to have the appropriate signalling hardware, such as a touchtone keypad.
The present invention is directed to an improved system that automatically categorizes caller responses, without requiring the caller to use signalling hardware, and without requiring the caller to cooperate with instructions by speaking requested code words.